By Emelie Rutherford
Grappling with how to stem increasing U.S. bloodshed in Afghanistan caused by improvised explosive devices (IEDs), Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced yesterday the creating of a new Defense Department-wide task force.
The newly formed task force on the counter-IED threat in Afghanistan will coordinate sundry Pentagon efforts already underway, including the Joint IED Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) and production of mine-resistant vehicles.
“My…principal concern over the last few weeks has been whether all of this is being properly integrated and prioritized and aligned and whether we’re adaptable and agile enough,” Gates told reporters. “So I’ve decided that I need to focus my attention on this problem as one of my top priorities for say the next six months.”
The task force will co-chaired by Ashton Carter, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, and Marine Corps Lt. General Jay Paxton, the director of operation for the Joint Staff.
Over the next six months Gates said he will meet with the task force and expect monthly reports from it.
“I just want to make sure that all of these different organizations in the department are moving together and cooperating, breaking down the stovepipes so that we’ve got the maximum possible effort working with the command,” he said.
Gates said he wants Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, to have “a lot of say” in the task force and anti-IED effort.
The defense secretary spoke when traveling to Oshkosh, Wis., to tour the plant of Oshkosh Corp. [OSK], which is building Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All Terrain Vehicles (M-ATVs), new off-road trucks intended to shield troops in Afghanistan from IEDs. M-ATVs are lighter than their predecessors, Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs), and are intended to help troops navigate Afghanistan’s uneven terrain.
Oshkosh announced Wednesday it received an order from the Army for 1,000 additional M-ATVs, bringing the number of vehicles it is slated to deliver to the military to 6,219.
It remains to be seen if the Pentagon buys more than 6,644 M-ATVs, the tally approved by the Joint Requirements Oversight Council.
Gates said yesterday that number of M-ATVs could rise if President Barack Obama opts to send thousands of additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan.
Outgoing JIEDDO Director Army Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz told lawmakers last month that IEDs in Afghanistan are larger than those seen in Iraq and pose an increased threat to mine-resistant vehicles.
More than 80 percent of U.S. casualties in Afghanistan result from IED attacks, Gates said. In Afghanistan, many of these explosives are made from fertilizer, unlike the IEDs used in Iraq largely based on artillery shells.